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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Free Agent

Perhaps I should change my blog name to 'See Mom Slack'. I am officially unemployed. TERMINATED to be precise. No, I'm not heartbroken. I despised that asshat.

To make a long story short, he ignored my maternity leave proposal I presented him with months before going on leave. I had told both him and the CEO directly that I wouldn't use childcare until the baby is 3 months old. I said I was more than willing to work on projects from home after my 6 weeks disability postpartum was up. They neither confirmed or denied this would be acceptable. I assumed it would be okay and I was unwilling to compromise on that time.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago... he sent me an email asking when I would return to the office for my normal schedule. I said end of March; what projects will I be working on so I can get prepared? No response. Last Friday I get a very legal sounding and hard-nosed email stating that I need to return to work by February 14th or they will look to fill the position with someone else. Required my response by Monday; noon to be precise. When offering to work from home or a various flex schedule until my childcare spot opened, he denied it and reiterated his initial demand. I was livid all weekend. I was dead-set on never working for him again.

I replied at 1:15 on Monday (after consulting with HR expert, and reviewing email with several people). I missed his noon deadline as I had a peds appointment and had to pick up oldest chickadee from school and start lunch. I stated it was impossible to come back sooner, I'd like to cash out my vacation days, use PFL if it was available to me, and I posted HR laws from our state. I also mentioned he has always promoted the company to be flexible and that he's been willing to work with me, so I assumed he would grant me this extra time to bond with my newborn.

His (almost immediate) response was that I was terminated for not replying by noon and that I was unwilling to come back to the office when requested. Then spewed a bunch of other bullshit. I actually felt extreme euphoria that I was free of him and the ridiculous, scammy company. That I would get lots of extra time with my last baby and wouldn't have to stress about going to a place I hate anymore.

Of course I've experienced mixed emotions since then: fear, anxiety...but I'm still happy. I never replied back to his email, but I keep thinking of smartass replies I could send. Namely, "GOOD RIDDANCE!"

Now I'm hoping to receive unemployment. I applied for it right away. Cross your fingers!

Some people even suggest I sue his ass. Not sure I'm up for that... But maybe it would feel good. Especially since they might be interested in hearing about the time I told him I'd like to talk about my maternity plan, and he said he thought my plan would be to just stick a cork in it. Hmmm...sexual harassment?? Amazing that he's even married. With 4 kids of his own no less!